Sheet guide for platen presses



Marh 17, 1953 c, P, KUEVER 2,631,537

SHEET GUIDE FOR PLATEN PRESSES Filed Oct. 6. 1947 lE Emil F- Kum/Er,

EN 4 """T will# I 46M i, @w f I A TTX Patented Mar. 17, 19553 UNITEDSTATES TENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

^ This invention relates to automatic job platen presses and moreparticularly to a guide device for positioning a sheet on the platen ofthe press.

In modern automatic job presses of the platen type, a sheet isautomatically fed from a supply stack onto the platen, is automaticallymoved on the platen to the proper printing position, and is thenimprinted by contact with the type bed by a combined swinging of theplaten and the bed toward each other. The platens of these presses arecovered by a tympan which normally is formed of paper and the sheetguides are mounted on the platen by cutting slots or openings in thepaper tympan and securingl them to the tympan or by sticking them intothe tympan. It is a difcult and tedious job to properly locate theseguides and when they are secured to the tympan they may be moved out ofline by the vibration and jolting of the platen. Furthermore, thissystem is expensive, due to the fact that a new tympan is required foreach job that is of a dilerent size, and this is not'only expensive fromthe standpoint of the cost of the tympan, but also from the standpointof the time and labor it involves in removing and replacing the tympansand positioning the guides for the next job.

j Having in mind the diiiculties of the prior art apparatus it is anobject of the invention to provide sheet guide means which may beadjustably mounted on a platen of a job press and employed universallyfor all sizes and types of jobs. It is another object of the inventionto provide sheet guide means for platen presses that comprisessimplicity of design, economy of construction and eiliciency ofoperation.

The foregoing objects and others ancillary thereto are preferablyaccomplished, in accordance with the preferred embodiment cf theinvention, by a single guide member incorporating means for positioningsheets of any size that may be printed on a single platen and which maybe adjustably mounted on the platen to accommodate sheets of dilerentsizes without the need of change of the guides. This guide may be in theform of a bar having a plurality of sheet contacting members extendingperpendicularly from one edge thereof and including aligned slotsextending inwardly from the opposite edges of the bar. These slots are.adapted to receive screws which may be permanently threaded in the faceof the platen so that they need not be removed but may be employed forclamping the bar tothe platen in adjusted position. By this arrangement,a tympan may bemounted on the platen and holes punched through toaccommodate the screws after which the tympan need not be changed untilit is damaged from wear or other causes. The bar may be modied fordifferent types of presses and for one well-known type, may have acut-away portion centrally of its leading edge to accommodate a pressurefinger and its rear edge may be cut-away on one end to accommodate aside guide. For another type oi press, a side guide may be mounted onthe bar itself so as to form a right angle with its front edge.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of the inventionare set forth with particularity in the appended claim. The inventionitself, however, both as to its organization and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbest be understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing,wherein like reference characters indicate like parts throughout and inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a platen of one type of press kandhaving the sheet guide member of the present invention mounted thereon;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional View taken on a lin corresponding to line2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan View of the guide member incorporating a sideguide; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front View in elevation of the guide member andone of the sheet positioning devices thereof. v

Referring now to the drawings, specifically to Fig. l, a platen IE) isshown as being of the type that is incorporated in the Kluge automaticjob press which is one of the more popular presses now in use. Theplaten i has a tympan ll mounted on its face and secured by a frame l2.A side guide I3 is adjustably carried by a rod lli adjacent the inneredge of the platen lli and a sheet holder tongue l5 is supported by arear frame It. A plurality of suction fingers ll, are supported by across-bar I8 which is movably vcarried by an arm I9, the suction ngersil' being connected by tubes 20 with suitable source oi suction.

The platen lil is located between a stack 2l or" paper and a type bed 22and in the operation of the press a sheet of paper is transferred fromthe stack 2| to the platen l0, where it is picked up by the suctionfingers Il and moved forward by movement of the arm I9 to the frontsheet guides and simultaneously-the side guide` I3 is moved laterally bymovement of the rod l to contact and predeterminedly position the sideedge of the sheet. The suction fingers Il are then removed and theplaten iii swung upwardly while the type bed 22 is simultaneously swungforwardly to meet the platen and imprint the sheet thereon. Thehereinbefore described press is well-known and consequently adescription of the various elements for accomplishing the abovedescribed operation is not necessary in the present instance.

As previously stated the sheet to be imprinted is positioned on theplaten l@ by the side guide and by front guides which are positioned 'onthe tympan Il in accordance with the size of the sheet to be printed. Todetermine the exact location of the guides it is customaryhto printdirectly on the tympan Il to locate the print relative to the platenlil. The measurement of the sheet is then figured around the print onthe tympan and the tympan is then cut to permit the positioning of thefront guides in accordance with this measurement.

i To overcome the above difficulties, the present invention comprises asingle guide member 25 that is in the form of a bar land has a pluralityof sheet guides 25 projecting from its front edge 2l? which is beveled,as best shown in Fig. 2. to permit pas sage of the suction rngers il inVclose proximity 'to the bar 25. Aligned slots 28 extend inwardly fromboth the front edge '2? and the rear edge Z2 of the bar to receive theshanks of bolts Sii that are threaded into the platen lll. Obviously,these bolts 3U may be permanently positioned in the platen andmerelyloosened to permit adjustment of the bar 25 or they may be removablefrom the platen 'NJ to permit other uses of the platen it if desired. Bythis arrangement, the bar 25 may be adjusted through 'slots 23 while ina forward position, as shown in Fig. 1, to accommodate smaller sheets orit may be located in a rear position with the bolts 39 in the forwardslots 2B, whereby to accommodate larger sheets. It will he seen,therefore, that the single bar 25 maybe employed for various sizes ofsheets without affecting the position of the holding screws 3i! or ofthe tympan l i. On the other hand the tympan il may be employed for manyjobs and the only operation that is necessary in mounting it is to punchsmall apertures 3l topassthe bolts 3m l The guide member 25 is bestshown in Fig. 3 wherein it vmay be seen that it comprises an elongatedbar whichris preferably provided with a V-shaped notch 32 in its frontedge 2l' to accor modate the forward end of the tongue l5, as shown inFig. 2. IThe notch 32 is locatedcentrally of the bar 25 and there arepreferably four of the sheet guides 26 on one end of the bar whereasonly two of the guides 25 are necessary on the other end of the bar,which latter end is the one adjoining the side guide i3. By thisarrangement the necessary and proper sheet guides 2t are provided toaccommodate all sizes of sheets ranging from the largest to the smallestthat may be employedin the particular press. These` sheet guides'26 arespaced not only in consideration of the sizes of the sheets with whichthey are to 'be employed, but also of the suction fingers il which mustnecessarily pass therebetween during the forward portion of theirmovement over the front edge 21 of the bar 25.

The guides 25 each comprise a pair of forwardly extending arms 33 whichare spaced to receive a spring tongue 34 therebetween. The arms 33 arepreferably formed integrally with bar 25 and have forwardly extendingportions 35 that angle upwardly and which terminate in downwardly ex'ltending vertical portions 36 which form abutments for the edge of thesheet. The bottoms of the vertical portions 35 are cut away to formreduced feet 31 which 'bear directly on the tympan l l. The springtongue 34 is adjustably ypositioned at its rear end by a screw 38 thatis threaded into the bar 35 in a position laterally of the spring 34 sothat said spring may be adjusted longitudinally between thearms 33. Thetongue 34 may beat but preferably comprises an upwardly bowed portion 39and a forward downwardly bowed portion 4l! and terminates with theforwardly extending tip '4l which may turn up very slightly to guide theedge of the sheet downwardly against the vertical 'portions 33 of thearms 33.

AInlorclerutc accommodate the side guide i3 the rear 'edge Y29 of thebar 25 has a cut away portion '112 at the end adjacent said side guideI3. This cut away portion 42 cornes into use only when the lbar 25 islinits rear position as indicated lin Fig. l, by the broken lines R. Inthis position the rear edge 23 would `normally'interfere with the blockljthat is mounted on the -rod it. Thercut away 432 however, ii-ts aroundblock i3 so as to accommodate the side guide i3 in any normal positionas the :bar 25 is placed in its rearward position only when larger sizesof sheets are to be printed and, consequently, the side guide !3 wouldnecessarily `be positioned toward v*the side of the platen toaccommodate the larger sheets so that the out away e2 extends along therear edge il@ of the bar 25 for only a limited distance. u

The guide member 25, hereinbeiore described, is specifically adapted fora machine having aside guide i3 such as the aforementioned Klugemachines. Other well-known types of machines, however, do notincorporate the side -guide l 3 @but employ small guides which areclipped to the tympan! l or the platen lil and areprovided withpositioning means that move the sheet angularly into contact with thefront andthe side guides. One of the'better known machinesl ofvthistypeis the Craftsman :press with a C ahdR automatic feeder. Thistype of 'press is provided with a finger in place of the tongue l5 whichreceives 'a pivotal or angular movement to move the sheet forwardly andlaterally into contact with the `front guides-and the side guides.'To-cooperate with amachine of this type the` guide bar 25may'beprovided with an arm 43 that is positionedjust oatside of themountingslots it at one end of thebar 2E and extends at'right angles tojthe bar uThe arm 3 has at least one "sheet guide fifi mounted thereonto provide a side guide 'for n'the sheet and this guide may befixed'integrallywith'the arm such as the guides 26, or it may beformed-independently and adjustably mounted to the arm -by means of anut bolt l5 and a slot fin the arm et. bviously morcilla-n one of the-.guides d4 maybe employed if desired. Thearm be formed integrally Vwiththe bar 25er itmay be formed independently to be removabiy attached tothe bar 25 as vby means ofiscrews il which'fare adapted to cooperatewith-threaded apertures t3 in the bar '2%. By providing an 'arm c3 nas aremovable attachment the guide niember'may 1t be adapted'foi'usewith'either vtype of machine.

It willbeobvious to those'familiar withithelart that the 'presentinvention provides many advantages over 'the' present system. Forinstance, at the present time, it is the custom to pulllafprint on thetympan and thenfsetthe front orv bottom guides andthe side Vguidesafter-laying'out the size of the'sheet-around the print on thetympan.

A print is then pulled on a sheet and guides straightened if necessary.

In accordance with the present invention, however, the guide member ismounted on the platen by the screws 30 in its exact position inaccordance with the size of the sheet and a print is pulled on a sheetrather than on the tympan. The important factor, however, is the factthat considerable time and labor is saved in setting up the single guide25, instead of having to position and mount the plurality of individualguides.

Although a certain specic embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, it is obvious that many modifications thereof are possible.

That which I claim as new, is:

A sheet guide member for printing press platens having a pair of spacedscrews thereon and for use with sheet moving means movable across andclose to the platen for moving a sheet on the platen into positionagainst the guide member, which member comprises an elongated bar havingspaced pairs of transverse slots respectively in the front and rearedges of said bar for selective reception of the pair of screws on theplaten, sheet guide elements spaced along and projecting from the frontof said bar and each including a pair of spaced rigid arms with a springnger therebetween, said arms extending in an upward incline from saidbar and terminating in rigid downwardly bent vertical portions whichextend to engagement with the platen and form rigid -abutments for theedge of a sheet, said spring finger being adjustably mounted on said barand being bowed downwardlybetween said arms to substantially engage theplaten between said vertical portions and curving upwardly beyond saidvertical portions to guide and hold the edge of a sheet' in abutmentwith said vertical portions, said bar having a beveled front edgebetween said sheet guide elements to provide clearance for the passagein close proximity thereto of the sheet moving means. i-

CECIL P. KUEVER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 698,343 Ward Apr. 22, 1902843,688 Morrison Feb. l2, 1907 863,311 Odell Aug. 13, 1907 893,587Howard July 14, 1908 1,073,865 McGinty Sept. 23, 1913 1,162,102 RagerNov. 30, 1915 '1,710,853 Allan Apr. 30, 1929 2,370,591 Thompson Feb. 27,1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 12,242 Great Britain Aug. 5,1890

